Written Answers Tuesday 25 September 2007

Scottish Executive

Constitution

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is its view that the Bill outlined at Annex B of the white paper, Choosing Scotland’s Future: A National Conversation , is within the legislative competence of the Parliament.

Nicola Sturgeon: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-3306 on 12 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Culture

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much public funding (a) the National Theatre of Scotland, (b) Scottish Opera and (c) the Royal Scottish National Orchestra received last year.

Linda Fabiani: A breakdown of the public funding received by the National Theatre of Scotland, Scottish Opera and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in 2006-07 is provided in the following table. The funding for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra includes a one-off stabilisation payment of £2.1 million.

  

 
National Theatre of Scotland
Scottish Opera
Royal Scottish National Orchestra


Scottish Arts Council Funding 
£4,000,000
£8,046,293
£5,059,874


Other funding (including local authority funding)
£107,597
£102,610
£254,155


Total
£4,107,597
£8,148,903
£5,314,029

Culture

Lewis Macdonald (Aberdeen Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much public funding (a) the National Theatre of Scotland, (b) Scottish Opera and (c) the Royal Scottish National Orchestra will receive this year.

Linda Fabiani: A breakdown of the public funding anticipated to be received by the National Theatre of Scotland, Scottish Opera and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for 2007-08 is provided in the following table.

  

 
National Theatre of Scotland
Scottish Opera
Royal Scottish National Orchestra


Scottish Government funding (including any one off payments)
£4,394,760
£8,443,700
£3,834,000


Other funding (including local authority funding)
£40,000
£220,941
£305,000


Total
£4,434,760
£8,664,641
£4,139,000

Education

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many verbal attacks have been made by pupils on teachers in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many physical attacks have been made by pupils on teachers in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Maureen Watt: Information on the number of reported incidents of violence or antisocial behaviour was collected centrally between 1998-99 and 2002-03 only. The following table shows the data for 1998-99 to 2000-01. Data for the remaining two years were given in answers to questions S2W-12808 and S2W-13156 on 17 December 2004 and 21 January 2005. All answers to written questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  Figures include verbal and physical abuse against both teaching and non-teaching staff as well as incidents against personal property. The figures cover pre-school as well as school.

  Reporting was variable between years and across local authorities. On the basis of this information, it is, therefore, not necessarily valid to draw national comparisons between and across local authorities, or local year-on-year comparisons within local authorities.

  

 
Both Verbal Abuse and Physical Violence
Damage to Personal Property
Physical Violence Only
Verbal Abuse Only


1998-99
 
 
 
 


Aberdeen City
n/a
3
139
179


Aberdeenshire
n/a
0
42
6


Angus
n/a
0
20
20


Argyll and Bute
n/a
0
11
29


Clackmannanshire
n/a
0
7
6


Dumfries and Galloway
n/a
0
13
16


Dundee City
n/a
1
128
78


East Ayrshire
n/a
0
26
2


East Dunbartonshire
n/a
1
24
7


East Lothian
n/a
0
6
6


East Renfrewshire
n/a
0
13
2


Edinburgh, City of
n/a
0
120
61


Eilean Siar
n/a
0
0
0


Falkirk
n/a
0
0
3


Fife
n/a
0
31
33


Glasgow City
n/a
1
108
37


Highland
n/a
0
11
6


Inverclyde
n/a
0
8
15


Midlothian
n/a
1
54
4


Moray
n/a
5
27
25


North Ayrshire
n/a
0
8
4


North Lanarkshire
n/a
0
70
88


Orkney Islands
n/a
0
1
2


Perth and Kinross
n/a
0
35
11


Renfrewshire
n/a
19
23
15


Scottish Borders
n/a
0
2
5


Shetland Islands
n/a
0
1
0


South Ayrshire
n/a
13
24
128


South Lanarkshire
n/a
2
33
32


Stirling
n/a
2
2
2


West Dunbartonshire
n/a
1
48
23


West Lothian
n/a
0
38
24


1999-2000
 
 
 
 


Aberdeen City
125
15
143
426


Aberdeenshire
2
0
3
3


Angus
12
0
9
18


Argyll and Bute
7
2
22
64


Clackmannanshire
7
2
8
7


Dumfries and Galloway
24
7
2
11


Dundee City
0
0
148
53


East Ayrshire
9
0
7
12


East Dunbartonshire
3
0
42
13


East Lothian
3
0
26
18


East Renfrewshire
0
0
23
6


Edinburgh, City of
109
0
80
100


Eilean Siar
0
2
0
0


Falkirk
10
1
5
14


Fife
14
0
218
27


Glasgow City
27
2
90
20


Highland
5
0
17
2


Inverclyde
12
0
17
10


Midlothian
10
0
51
8


Moray
19
2
7
6


North Ayrshire
21
3
14
32


North Lanarkshire
72
0
22
84


Orkney Islands
2
0
2
1


Perth and Kinross
25
0
56
41


Renfrewshire
9
7
25
11


Scottish Borders
2
0
2
1


Shetland Islands
1
0
2
0


South Ayrshire
33
2
50
60


South Lanarkshire
27
0
35
25


Stirling
13
1
21
38


West Dunbartonshire
38
2
27
43


West Lothian
0
0
48
18


2000-01
 
 
 
 


Aberdeen City
143
2
170
354


Aberdeenshire
29
4
65
45


Angus
15
0
24
42


Argyll and Bute
7
4
16
56


Clackmannanshire
7
0
11
4


Dumfries and Galloway
8
2
13
17


Dundee City
93
3
231
85


East Ayrshire
7
0
10
6


East Dunbartonshire
12
3
34
39


East Lothian
9
0
19
20


East Renfrewshire
0
0
14
2


Edinburgh, City of
142
0
146
93


Eilean Siar
8
2
0
9


Falkirk
18
1
94
55


Fife
67
5
201
141


Glasgow City
43
0
178
37


Highland
27
0
125
14


Inverclyde
8
0
36
6


Midlothian
28
0
38
30


Moray
10
0
18
4


North Ayrshire
40
8
41
21


North Lanarkshire
72
0
22
84


Orkney Islands
1
0
2
0


Perth and Kinross
124
3
112
72


Renfrewshire
4
0
54
20


Scottish Borders
6
0
13
5


Shetland Islands
8
0
12
0


South Ayrshire
33
1
17
60


South Lanarkshire
62
0
40
27


Stirling
7
0
11
57


West Dunbartonshire
20
5
60
32


West Lothian
23
0
75
38

Education

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many meetings of the Ministerial Taskforce on School Discipline have take place since May 2007 and when it is due to next meet.

Maureen Watt: The Discipline Stakeholder Group has not met since May 2007. The next meeting will take place this autumn.

Education

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to publish annual statistics on verbal and physical assaults by pupils on teachers and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Maureen Watt: The decision on whether to publish annual statistics on verbal and physical assaults by pupils on teachers is currently under review. The reason for this position is that definitions and reporting systems were variable and inconsistent, making the collation unreliable. The Scottish Government wants data to be comprehensive and consistent in order to understand the levels and seriousness of indiscipline in our schools.

Education

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to measure and monitor verbal and physical assaults by pupils on teachers.

Maureen Watt: The means by which the Scottish Government intends to measure and monitor verbal and physical assaults by pupils on teachers is currently under review.

Gaelic

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-2898 by Linda Fabiani on 24 August 2007, what measures to attract Gaelic teachers into the profession have been put in place since May 2007.

Linda Fabiani: Gaelic-medium education has a vital role to play in the future of Gaelic in Scotland. In the answer to question S3W-2898 on 24 August 2007, I acknowledged that a range of measures are in place to attract Gaelic teachers into the profession. We will build on, strengthen and extend these measures over the life of this parliament and we will do this, working closely with Bòrd na Gàidhlig and relevant institutions and public bodies.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Gaelic

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-2898 by Linda Fabiani on 24 August 2007, how many of the wide-ranging commitments to support the development of Gaelic in Scotland have been put in place since May 2007.

Linda Fabiani: The Scottish Government is committed to creating a sustainable future for Gaelic in Scotland and we recognise the valuable contributions made to this agenda by a number of authorities, bodies and organisations. We continue to work to build on this progress. Our commitments are wide ranging in relation to Gaelic development and over the life of this parliament we will build on and strengthen the measures that have been put in place. Already this process has commenced and good progress has been made in relation to Gaelic broadcasting, developments with Bòrd na Gàidhlig, in the development of public authority Gaelic language plans and in connection with the education and support of Gaelic teachers. I will continue to engage with Bòrd na Gàidhlig and other relevant bodies to ensure that this excellent progress continues.

Health

Angela Constance (Livingston) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what changes and developments are planned for neuroscience health services.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Neuroscience Implementation Group is taking forward detailed work on planning the service model set out in Building a Health Service Fit for the Future . The group will submit its proposals to the Scottish Government by the end of December 2007.

Health

Michael McMahon (Hamilton North and Bellshill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the equality and diversity impact assessments of all NHS boards to be published.

Nicola Sturgeon: There is a duty on each NHS board to complete and publish equality and diversity impact assessments of the policies and services for which they are responsible. We are reminding boards of our commitment to this as part of the 2007 Annual Review cycle process which is currently in progress.

Homelessness

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what monitoring it is undertaking of the effectiveness of its policies on tackling rough sleeping.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government monitors local authorities’ progress via homelessness statistics supplied by local authorities (referred to in the answer to S3W-4217 on 21 September 2007) and progress reports currently submitted annually by local authorities detailing services developed for rough sleepers, capacity of these services to meet local needs, outcomes for rough sleepers in their area and an estimate of levels of non-engagement with services. A report on progress with this and other homelessness outcomes will be produced later in the year.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Housing

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to tackle the issue of overcrowded housing and houses in illegal multiple occupancy among migrant workers.

Stewart Maxwell: Migrant workers are entitled to the same protection from overcrowding and illegal letting as any other tenants. Local authorities are responsible for identifying unlicensed houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and ensuring that conditions of licences are complied with, including the number of occupants allowed. A number of authorities are working specifically to make sure migrant workers are aware of their rights and the law on private rented housing, and local authority officers are developing contacts with the Borders and Immigration Agency to co-ordinate their efforts.

  Overcrowding may also occur in houses which do not require an HMO licence, for example where the occupiers are members of the same family. The statutory definition of overcrowding is contained in Part VII of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (the 1987 act). When letting a house, landlords are required to provide a written statement, setting out the permitted number of occupiers. In addition, the 1987 act places a duty on local authorities to carry out inspections as necessary to identify overcrowded houses. People whose accommodation is overcrowded may be eligible for assistance under homelessness legislation.

Housing

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will set up an independent commission or inquiry into the requirements of a strategy for private rented houses across Scotland, including houses in multiple occupancy.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government is taking various measures to improve standards in private rented housing and we are keen to explore how the sector can play a greater role in meeting housing need in the future. However, we have no plans to set up an independent inquiry. Local authorities are required to prepare local housing strategies taking account of the contribution made by all sectors including private rented housing, which should also cover houses in multiple occupation where appropriate.

International Development

Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow Maryhill) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-2900 by Linda Fabiani on 27 August 2007, what discussions it has had with the Secretary of State for International Development concerning its increased involvement in international development.

Linda Fabiani: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-3698 on 13 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

National Heritage (Scotland) Act 1985

Alison McInnes (North East Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to amend the National Heritage (Scotland) Act 1985 to enable ministers to fund local as well as national collections.

Linda Fabiani: Section 23 of the National (Heritage) Scotland Act 1985 empowers Scottish ministers to fund any body whose activities appear to them to be likely to promote the development or understanding of cultural or scientific matters. The Scottish Government funds the Scottish Museums Council under these powers with £3.374 million in 2007-08, as well as a number of local museum collections including the Scottish Maritime Museum, Scottish Mining Museum, and the Scottish Fisheries Museum.

  The Museums Significance Recognition Scheme was launched in June 2007 with £500,000 per year of new funding. Funding awards will be made by the Scottish Museums Council.

Renewable Energy

Cathy Jamieson (Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to change the way in which planning applications for renewable energy developments are administered.

Jim Mather: The government believes that Scottish Planning Policy (SPP)6 – Renewable Energy provides a sound national policy context for addressing renewable energy development. We want to see the SPP’s provisions taken forward urgently, with local authorities engaging with communities and other parties in the preparation of locational strategies in relation to wind farm development in the form of supplementary planning guidance. These local frameworks should provide greater certainty for developers and local communities and speed up the decision making process. We see this approach as striking the right balance between national and local responsibilities.

  SPP6 applies not only to applications made under the Town and Country Planning Act but is also applied by the Scottish Government in its handling of applications for consent under the Electricity Act 1989. In addition to applying SPP6, the government is examining whether any changes in administrative process could improve the efficiency of case handling for Electricity Act applications. For example, the scoping opinion report has been reviewed. This seeks to provide specialist consultee advice to developers at the design stage of the project, with the aim of raising the overall quality of applications when submitted such that consideration of these should take less time. Input has been received from statutory consultees and from a sub group of the Forum for Renewable Energy Development in Scotland (FREDS).

  This sub-group has also considered the Electricity Act consents process more widely and will report to the FREDS group shortly. I will then consider any recommendations which they make to the government.

Rural Development

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline the measurements of deprivation used in rural areas and islands where the population is spatially dispersed.

John Swinney: There are no measurements of deprivation specific to rural areas and islands where the population is spatially dispersed. In terms of resource allocation different funding streams consider deprivation measures in the context of the basis on which the funding is made available e.g. to fund health boards through the Arbuthnott formula, to fund local authorities through grant aided expenditure and to fund area regeneration through the Community Regeneration Fund. Each of these key blocks of funding take account of deprivation as appropriate.

  Additional measurements include household income and poverty. Information on the percentage of rural population that is classified as living in relative poverty was published on the Scottish Government website at 9.30am on Friday 21 September.

Schools

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to the second supplementary question to question S3F-125 by Alex Salmond on 6 September 2007 ( Official Report c.1501), on what evidence the First Minister based his statement that "it is widely known that the so-called hit list was devised under a Labour Administration".

Fiona Hyslop: It has been widely reported from mid-2006 through to early 2007 that the Labour Administration of the previous City of Edinburgh Council was considering measures to deal with a budget deficit. These reports included reference to the effects of falling school rolls and the prospect that a quarter of the city’s schools could be surplus to requirements.

Scottish Qualifications Authority

Kenneth Gibson (Cunninghame North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what scrutiny measures are in place to ensure that the Scottish Qualifications Authority is transparent and provides value for money.

Maureen Watt: As an executive non-departmental public body (NDPB), the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is fully accountable to ministers and the Scottish Parliament for the money it spends and the services it provides. As an NDPB the SQA must operate within a framework of controls which is monitored and enforced through a sponsor team in the Scottish Government’s Schools Directorate. The framework comprises legislative measures and a number of sets of guidance including the Scottish Public Finance Manual and a Management Statement and Financial Memorandum. Under the framework all NDPBs are required, among other things, to make an explicit commitment to openness and to deliver value for money.

  The SQA has publicly declared that it is committed to openness, transparency and the public interest in the exercise of its functions. It demonstrates this commitment by publishing Board minutes, corporate plans, annual reports, annual accounts and other corporate and operational documents. The SQA also fully recognises and embraces its obligations under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and has made clear the internal policies it has established to meet these obligations.

  The SQA’s statutory auditor is the Auditor General for Scotland (AGS), who is responsible to the Scottish Parliament for ensuring propriety and value for money in the spending of public funds. The Auditor General has currently appointed Audit Scotland to undertake the annual audit of SQA’s accounts in order to ensure that they present a true and fair view of SQA’s financial affairs. Once the SQA’s accounts have been audited and the AGS has considered the results of the audit the accounts are laid before Parliament. The Auditor General may also undertake investigations into the use of resources by SQA and whether they achieve economy, efficiency and effectiveness. The Auditor General published the results of his review of SQA’s performance management arrangements in November 2006.

  The chief executive of the SQA is also its accountable officer and as such has a specific, personal responsibility for the propriety and regularity of the SQA’s public finances. As accountable officer, the chief executive is responsible for ensuring that SQA’s resources are used economically, efficiently and effectively. If called upon to do so, the chief executive is expected to appear before the Audit Committee of the Scottish Parliament to answer questions concerning the SQA’s expenditure and receipts and related activities.

Student Finance

Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to paragraph 14 of the consultation document on the abolition of the graduate endowment fee in respect of the forgoing of £15 million per annum in income, what the current budget is in the education department to meet in-year pressures.

Fiona Hyslop: The current budget, based on the previous administration’s departmental structures, can be found in the Budget (Scotland) (No.4) Bill Supporting Document (SE 2007/02) which can be found in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 43697).

Taxation

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the latest estimate is of the revenue which would accrue if the income tax level in Scotland was raised by one penny in the pound, in accordance with the revenue raising powers of the Parliament.

John Swinney: A one penny change in the Scottish variable rate in 2007-08 would be worth approximately +/- £300 million.

Voluntary Organisations

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its policy is on granting funding to voluntary organisations who require that (a) recruits and (b) volunteers be of a particular faith.

Jim Mather: We support voluntary organisations to run and develop projects and services which fit our strategic objectives. We do not fund projects which promote one faith nor projects where potential recruits or volunteers are excluded from opportunities on the basis of their faith or belief.

  In such cases it would be the specific project which would be ineligible for funding – not the organisation. The organisation might still be eligible for funding for other projects which meet the relevant criteria and where the posts or volunteer placements are open to all. Each application is considered on a case-by-case basis.

Voluntary Organisations

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what rules it applies to (a) local authorities and (b) other public bodies with regard to granting funding to voluntary organisations which require that (i) recruits and (ii) volunteers be of a particular faith and whether it has any plans to revise such rules.

Jim Mather: We apply no rules to other organisations about recruitment and funding of volunteers in faith situations.

  Funding decisions are matters within the discretion of local authorities but, like other bodies, they are required to comply with current equality legislation in offering funding. Our Equality Unit is drafting guidelines to provide greater clarity to local authorities.

  Funding of voluntary organisations by non-departmental public bodies is a matter for each body to consider within their statutory powers. Such arrangements must comply with current equality legislation and be subject to the requirements of their financial framework documents and the Scottish Public Finance Manual.

Young People

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-3909 by Linda Fabiani on 12 September 2007, whether it is aware of the imminent closure of the Big Lottery Fund’s Young People’s Fund programme and whether it has plans to sustain for wider purposes the infrastructure of the 32 local panels of young people that enabled young people to have a direct say in how lottery money is spent in their areas.

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it will take to learn from the results of investing £20 million of Big Lottery funding over the last two years through the Young People’s Fund.

Linda Fabiani: Scottish ministers are aware that the Big Lottery Fund’s Young People’s Fund has closed for applications and that the Big Lottery Fund expects all the funds to be committed by November 2007. National Lottery funding is time-limited.

  The Big Lottery Fund will be holding a learning event on Friday 5 October to review the impact of the Young People’s Fund. The Big Lottery Fund have commissioned consultants to carry out a comprehensive five year evaluation of the Young People’s Fund across the UK. The evaluation will assess the impact of each of the four country programmes in meeting their aims and outcomes, and will examine the impact of involving young people in all areas of the programmes and projects, from evaluation to development, on young people themselves, communities and projects. In addition, the evaluation will also examine the effectiveness of the 32 local panels across Scotland.

  The Scottish Government, as part of the national youth work strategy, are committed to empowering young people to influence decisions that affect their lives and those of their schools and communities.